


Lift Your Head from the Sieve of Your Hands

by theletterdee



Series: Axios - "I Am Worthy" [2]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Gen, the relationship is still pre relationship and brief sort of moment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-12
Updated: 2015-12-12
Packaged: 2018-05-06 07:23:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5407982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theletterdee/pseuds/theletterdee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bree finds her son</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lift Your Head from the Sieve of Your Hands

Bree was exhausted, she could feel it in her legs, feel it burning behind her eyes, but there was still so much to do. She, Cassandra, Varric, and Solas were in Val Royeaux. Their initial reason for traveling to Orlais’ capital city to appeal to the Chantry had come and gone with the arrival and subsequent departure of the Templars led by Lord Seeker Lucius. **  
**

Their own departure back to Haven was delayed by the appearance of arrows and red handkerchiefs, culminating in an invitation from Red Jenny. Sera, a peculiar elf, who looked at Bree with suspicion (“ _You’re so… elfy_ ”) joined the Inquisition. With a sigh and quickly penned note to her advisors, Bree sent Sera on ahead. They were exploring the marketplace further when a messenger approached Bree with an invitation from Enchanter Vivienne to attend a party she was hosting in the city that night. Bree conferred briefly with her party members and told the messenger that she would be there.

“Is it always this exhausting?” Bree asked Cassandra as their group split up to restock and take some time to relax. She decided to stick to the warrior’s side, the large spires and vast space of the Orlesian city overwhelming her after a lifetime of aravels and ever-changing scenery. “The recruiting, the politics of it all?”

That rewarded her a slight smile from the towering woman, “It can be, some people revel in the Game, others simply hope to survive. You are doing a superb job of it though, Herald.”

Bree made a face at the title, “I thought I told you-”

“You are doing a superb job,  _Bree_ ,” Cassandra interrupted her, her smile widening.

“Thank you.” She smiled back and they continued to peruse the stalls, Cassandra explaining anything Bree had questions on to the best of the Seeker’s knowledge. Bree was admiring some pendants when something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. It was a man looming over a small elvhen boy who was trying very hard to hold back the tears in his eyes. The man, masked as most of the Orlesians Bree had met today, raised his hand and the boy flinched. “Don’t you  _dare_!” Bree shouted and sprinted over towards the pair.  
  
“Bree, no!” Cassandra’s protest fell on deaf ears as Bree slid in between the boy and the man just in time to receive the blow herself. Pain lanced across her cheek as the force of the blow nearly caused Bree to fall back on the boy she shielded behind her.

“You fool woman, how dare you interfere?” The man yelled, his hand raised to strike again, but the appearance of a blade at his neck stopped him short.

“If you strike her again, I shall cut you down,” Cassandra levelled a glare at the man, her voice cold and calm.

“She has interfered in a private matter, it is not my fault that she got hit.”

“You were about to hit a child!” The child in question wrapped his arms around Bree’s thigh, her arm curled around his shoulders while the rest of her body angled him away from the man.

“He is my servant and was being disobedient!”

“He is a  _child_!”

“Herald, please,” Solas’ voice startled her, but his hand on her shoulder calmed her.

“Herald?” The man lowered his hand.

“Yeah, the Herald of Andraste, y’know, the newest chosen of the Maker and all that?” Varric polished his fingernails on his duster, looking perfectly nonchalant, “that’s the woman you just slapped.”

“She’s an  _elf_.”

“The Maker chooses who he wills,  _we_  are not to question it,” Cassandra’s blade dug deeper into the man’s throat as she spoke. “Herald, what do you want done?”

Bree looked at the man, his eyes burning behind his mask, before she looked down at the boy attached to her leg. His eyes, big and brown, peered up at her through dark curls. They pleaded with her, and she couldn’t ignore the desperate way he clung to her breeches. “Let him go, but the boy is coming with us.”

“He is my servant!”

“Send a letter to Ambassador Montilyet of the Inquisition, she will be happy to compensate you for the loss of a servant, but there is no way I am letting this boy return to your… care.”

The man curse up a storm, but left them. Cassandra watched him go warily before turning to Bree, her eyes widening, “Maker, Bree, you are bleeding.”

The elf lifted a hand to her cheek, wincing at the touch and her mouth dropping open slightly at the sight of her bright red blood on her fingertips, “Oh…”

“Here, let me,” Solas offered, but she pushed away his hands.

“It’s alright, there are more important things,” At that, Bree knelt down to put herself at eye level with the small elvhen boy, “Are you alright?” He nodded shyly. “Good, what’s your name?”

“Lucas.”

“Lucas, that’s a great name,” Bree smiled at him and he smiled back. “Lucas, would you like to come with us?”

He looked around at her companions with trepidation, but when Lucas’ eyes met hers again, he nodded, “No bad master?”

“No, no bad master will hurt you again,” Bree reached up and lightly combed a stray curl out of Lucas’ eyes. “Haven is a wonderful place.”

“Depends on your definition of ‘wonderful’,” Varric muttered under his breath, grinning easily at Cassandra’s disapproving look.

“I be with you?” Lucas asked.

Bree nodded, “If that is what you want.”

Lucas nodded, “Mm-hm! I like you.”

She stood and he instantly reached up and grabbed her hand, ready to go. Bree looked up at the glimmering spires of Val Royeaux and sighed. Had she done the right thing? Would this have repercussions for the Inquisition? What would her advisors say?

A hand on her shoulder broke her thoughts, “You do not have to go to the party tonight, Her-  _Bree_ , if you are tired,” Cassandra’s voice was soft, her accent deeper than Bree had heard it.

“I don’t feel like going, but… I have to, the Inquisition needs all the allies it can get right now.”

“I understand,” Cassandra squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. “Will you at least let Solas heal your cheek? You have some scratches and they look fairly deep.”

Bree shook her head again, “I got worse while I hunted for my clan, the scratches will heal in time.”

* * *

They were well on the road back to Haven when Bree finally processed what had happened in Val Royeaux. Cassandra was the one to witness her breakdown and the one to hold her through the tears.

“Why would someone do that to a child?”

“I do not know why, Bree,” she smoothed over Bree’s disheveled hair and wiped away the tears from her cheeks, avoiding the still healing scratches. “The world can be so very cruel, but there is always light that can be found. It is very sad what Lucas was subjected to, what many servants and slaves are subjected to, but you saved him.  _You saved him_ , Bree. That is what counts.”

“I saved him…” Bree quieted, her sobs subsiding into deep breaths with the occasional hiccup as Cassandra rocked her gently. “I saved him… and I’ll save the rest of them.”

The Seeker tightened her arms around the elf, “You will find a way, I am sure of it.” She pressed a kiss to the top of Bree’s head. “Feel better?”

“Yes, thank you.” Bree let out a shuddering breath and slipped her arms around Cassandra’s torso, “Could you… could you stay for a bit longer?”

Cassandra ignored the fluttering in her stomach at Bree’s request, Bree needed a friend, now was not the time for her crush. “Of course, Bree, as long as you need.”

* * *

Lucas walked next to Bree as they neared Haven, his hand nestled comfortably in hers as if he’d done this every day of his life. “Are you my new  _mamae_?” He asked suddenly, causing Bree to screech to a halt in the middle of the path.

“What?”

“Are you my new  _mamae_?”

“Do… Do you want me to be?” She asked him quietly.

He thought about it, his face adorably scrunched up, and looked up at her, “Yeah.”

“Then…” Bree weighed her words carefully. She was the Herald of Andraste, the only person able to close the many rifts opened across Thedas, and a target for many new enemies with few allies, but when she looked at Lucas, all of that faded away. He reminded her of her brothers, of the younglings in her clan, and she knew she’d never be able to let him go, not after rescuing him in Val Royeaux, not after defending her decision to Vivienne and Solas. “Then… I guess I am.”

The grin on Lucas’ face nearly split it and warmed her heart, “Good!”

“Come on, let’s go home,” She grinned back and tugged on his hand. He charged ahead, dragging her behind him in his eagerness to see his new home, Bree laughing as she stumbled behind him before scooping him up and settling him on her back. She ran down the path, past her companions and nearer the gates, laughing the entire way.

It felt good to be home.


End file.
